'House of the Dragon' Has Something 'Game of Thrones' Never Had – and It Matters

On June 22, HBO premiered the third season of House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel centered on the Targaryen civil war. The first episode featured the epic Battle of the Gullet, a sequence originally intended for the second season finale but postponed due to budget constraints.

The season premiere received a 9.3 score on IMDb, and critics who have screened the first four episodes have praised the new season. While GoT also delighted fans in its early seasons, its finale is still regarded as one of the worst in history.

House of the Dragon, however, stands a strong chance of avoiding that fate.

Unlike the Ending of 'GoT', the Finale of 'House of the Dragon' Is Mapped Out in Advance

Although it is often said that Game of Thrones only failed in its final season, its flaws were apparent much earlier. The reason is well known: the first seasons were based on George R.R. Martin's books and once that source material ran out, the writers had to craft the plot from scratch, relying solely on rough drafts.

The show changed at that point – previously, every action advanced the plot, and any character could die if the story demanded it. After the fifth season, however, the creators began shielding the main characters, and Jon Snow's resurrection became the least Martin-esque moment in the series.

House of the Dragon enjoys a significant advantage: the book Fire & Blood was written long ago. Rather than a detailed character study, it serves as a historical chronicle, providing the screenwriters with a ready-made narrative skeleton to flesh out.

The only cause for concern is the friction between showrunner Ryan Condal and Martin, who has accused Condal of altering key details. Nevertheless, the creators are unlikely to change the fundamental elements of the finale, and the show will likely end the same way as the book.

'House of the Dragon' Has Fewer Storylines Than 'Game of Thrones'

GoT was beloved for its complex structure, which featured dozens of key characters, each with their own storyline. However, that very complexity proved to be the showrunners' undoing in the finale – they needed to conclude every character's storyline, but they ran out of time.

The White Walker invasion ended with a single stab of a knife, Daenerys' story met a similarly abrupt end, and Cersei spent the final episodes merely waiting for death. The creators lacked the stamina and experience to handle such a vast cast of characters.

House of the Dragon takes a different approach. While it is also an epic series about war and intrigue, the focus remains on just a few families and locations: King's Landing and Dragonstone, and the families of Alicent, Rhaenyra, Daemon, and Corlys.

Even if a minor character is overlooked in the finale, it won't be glaringly obvious because the narrative is driven by the central conflict: the struggle between the Blacks and the Greens.

The Franchise Is Growing, Which Means There's No Need to Prolong the Prequel

Following the controversial finale of GoT, talk of new spinoffs was met with skepticism. However, it turned out that the world of Game of Thrones is perfectly suited to becoming a major franchise – two series have already been released, and both have been successful to varying degrees.

Game of Thrones established a world that allows for a variety of stories, whether grand or intimate, serious or lighthearted. For House of the Dragon, this means the franchise structure allows the show to avoid unnecessary dragging out.

When Game of Thrones was airing, ending it early would have risked losing its audience. Now, however, it is known that the prequel will conclude with its fourth season, making way for something new.

Of course, the creators of HoTD could lose their touch by the final season and botch the ending, but the likelihood of that is slim. House of the Dragon promises to be a cohesive, solid series with a tight runtime and sensible conclusion.